Pokemon Sword and Shield
Overview Sword and Shield represent the absolute lowest point in the Pokemon franchise. While there have been worse games, they didn't sell. This is a game that is not only canon, but it IS going to sell well. Unfortunately, this is likely going to represent a downward trend in quality for the franchise unless it fails to sell by some miracle. There are numerous reasons why this game is already guaranteed to be a failure before it's even released. Graphics Starting with the most obvious criticism against the game, its graphics are especially terrible. While every other RPG is putting actual effort into their graphics, Pokemon settles for Graphics the WII could handle. Embarrassingly low resolution textures, low draw distance, and weak shading make this game already looks like a disaster. These graphics seem like they were ported over directly from the 3DS, except certain fan-made graphical updates show just how lazy the company truly is. Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee look better, and offer more to the look of the franchise. This is the most obvious problem with the game, but not anything that would define the game as bad before it releases. Maintaining The Worst Traditions Pokemon is a franchise that has held on to its worst traditions for years on end. Unfortunately, many Pokemon fans have chosen to view these blatant issues as endearing and quirky. One tradition that generations too long was the blatant need for HMs. How was this obnoxious problem solved? By introducing an animal system that didn't force move slots to be wasted on worthless moves. A tradition that was seemingly going to remain in the franchise was taken out extremely deep in the franchise. This is important to mention for this section. Gamefreak and Nintendo are willing to dramatically change how their games work for the sake of improving the games design. The formulaic nature of the games has become incredibly repetitive, and the feeble attempts to change fail to change much of the games. There are still Eight gyms, the games are linear, and every gimmick is dramatically overused. While it's not conformed directly if these things will happen, it's nearly a guarantee. Gen 5 was the last push to make Pokemon games truly different, but even that game kept many of the issues with the other games. While these aspects of Pokemon games are bad for a large variety of reasons, this will be explained in other sections. The point of this section is that Pokemon is willing to be formulaic base don their history. Character Design The anime page goes into far more detail on why various aspects of typical Japanese character design is completely awful, but this section will go over why Pokemon design specifically has become awful. One specific rule of character design involves not adding tons of pointless details. This rule is is less significant in 3D environments, and essentially doesn't apply to leave action (Although people have found ways to do it). Pokemon is placed into numerous mediums, so whether a Pokemon is over designed is difficult to say for certain. This was true until Gen 8 was released. Many attempted to argue that earlier generations had Pokemon that were over designed. While many Pokemon like Giratina have been criticized for similar issues, the arguments never had much significance. Not only were the supposedly over designed Pokemon essentially gods in their universe, many Pokemon in the same generations are not over designed. Galar Pokemon have even more unnecessary details, and they are weaker in cannon. Tons of unnecessary details on every part of the creature that completely ruin the design. This Pokemon managed to be overly complicated and overly simple at the same time. Anything that Pokemon once was has now been lost. Depending on the Pokemon you see, they could be under or over designed. The idea that any of these creatures could be functioning animals has been lost entirely. Even when Arceus was released, it still seemed like it was reasonable that something like it could exist. These were fantasy monsters, and having their god exist was necessary. Even having fantasy monsters from another dimension wasn't too far fetched. However, these Pokemon truly feel like they are from different RPG's altogether. Many Pokemon look more at home in Dragon Quest Game than a Pokemon game. Even Yo Kai Watch has Pokemon that look more like actual Pokemon. this is a game franchise that has lost its way. There have been bad Pokemon before, but nothing compared to even the best Pokemon from this generation. In this case, the least bad Pokemon. Each Pokemon is worse than the worst Pokemon previously. When you make this many Pokemon worse than Lumineon, it's a massive problem. These Pokemon are far too ugly to every truly ascend to the levels of others. Not the starters, not the legendaries, and certainly not everything inbetween. These Pokemon will be pushed, but they will never ascend to the levels of even the Pokemon from the previous generation. The National Dex Crisis The most embarrassing problem with the game is that you can't catch em' all. A series based on collecting pocket monsters doesn't let you catch all the pocket monsters. This was not an inevitable problem, this was a problem that never needed to exist. Less Pokemon could have been added, and few would have cared. Even if the Pokemon were as bad as Galar Pokemon, people wouldn't mind if there were less of them. Obviously some care, but the majority do not. Unfortunately, this isn't what happened. Game Freak and Nintendo are going to try and scrub their games free of unpopular Pokemon. Pokemon is a massive franchise where everyone is attached to their favorites, and players are even encouraged to do so by the games themselves. Removing the ability to play with your favorites is something absolutely insane. This is a situation where defenders will often ignore the fact that other people play the game differently than them. Some people will buy the game just to use the same set of six again, but other people actually enjoy completing the national dex. Some like breeding, some like competitive battling, and some people use the petting simulator a little too much. Removing Pokemon from the game limits the choice players have quite significantly. This is important because Game Freak and Nintendo are trying to change the way new players play, and they are trying to remove these Pokemon from the game. Not all Pokemon are great, and Pokemon like Lumineon should have never been included in the first place. However, the problem is not that Lumineon was removed. The problem is that a player will never have the chance to develop a relationship with Lumineon again. Players could discover the Pokemon outside the games, but the connection will never be as strong. Taking anything out of the games is a genuine attempt to scrub the Pokemon out of existence. There have been numerous statements from the creators that there will be no DLC for this game. This is something so terrible that there is no excuse for it. Not only will the games themselves make money, but selling to Pokemon as DLC will take advantage of the people who enjoy the Pokemon. However, giving further evidence to the claim that Game Freak is trying to clear out numerous Pokemon is almost confirmed by this. The only way to get more conformation than that would be if Game freak said that's what they were doing. It's not like there are any surprises here. New Pokemon have always been pushed in their debut generation, but they only continue to get pushed if they are extremely successful. This further proves that Game Freak should actually avoid making tons of new Pokemon. Not only would less work be created, but the Pokemon proven to be successful could be pushed far harder. For example, we could have seen the complete Kyurem, but the full dragon will likely never be reveal. The ability to develop new pokemon is something that should be done constantly, but this is almost ignored entirely. Anyone can think of a pokemon that would be amazing with a mega evolution or a regional variant. However, pokemon simply dumps out new designs without thinking, and now we've seen what scrapping the bottom of the barrel looks like. The comparison to Thanos is often mentioned as a joke. Many were making this obvious reference to emphasize just how cruel it was to remove any pokemon from the game. However, the accuracy of the statement cannot be ignored. Tons of pokemon are removed, and this clearly shows how lazy Game Freak has become in recent years. They have not only taken out some pokemon, but they have taken out nearly half of the pokemon. Pokemon in the previous game cannot be used, pokemon in the card game cannot be used, pokemon in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee cannot be used, and pokemon in Detective Pikachu cannot be used. This isn't just bad, this is embarrassing. This doesn't deserve the slightest grain of support from any pokemon fan, but it seems like pokemon fans will defend anything that threatens their hobby. Fan Reaction Pokemon's marketing strategy is similar to that of Nintendo's. They will let children by their games so that the children will grow up into adults that still love the games. Pokemon needs to have a constant flow of children playing their games in order for this to happen. Pokemon games are oversimplified for this reason as well. Obviously, many fans are both children, and people defending games they have grown up with since they were children themselves. This connection is strong, and many people make money from this franchise as well. The idea that a game in their favorite franchise has not only made an awful game, but has been awful for years comes as a great surprise. Obviously, people will defend the source of their joy. However, it does not make their ideas correct. Addressing many of the terrible arguments that come from these fans is important if any progress is going to be made with the pokemon franchise. "If you don't like, it don't play it," This is the most common argument. This has become short hand for "I lack any ability to actually defend what I like and I want people to stop saying mean things about the awful game I like." This has become such a common defense of bad games that it's almost comical. This statement ignores many content creators who are essentially forced to play games that follow trends. Reviewers are also the ones who have the largest voices when they complain. The average person will likely hear about the lack of Pokemon and not play the game either. So this statement applies to essentially no one. Either people who actually have to play the game or risk loosing tons of money, or people who will not play the game anyway. This argument is an overly aggressive way of dismissing any criticism. This also implies that a game is allowed to make any mistakes they want without any issue. This is wrong. The majority of people will buy the game without knowing the flaws, and they will end up wasting money. Critics are necessary, and they prevent people from wasting money. Telling people that they should know beforehand, but there are still many people out there who are unaware that this game doesn't even have every pokemon in it. Criticism is for those who do not know any better. Besides, those who know better will not play these games for one second. "Don't get so angry, it's just a game," This may be the most toxic opinion in the entire gaming community. Pokemon is the most successful media franchise in the world, not just a game. This comment being made by content creators is a complete joke. Pokemon gave many of these people their jobs, and many of them are in a creative industry. Money is being taken from millions of people, and that is money that will be undeservedly obtained. A game is a product, and an awful product takes money from people. Millions of people are being essentially scammed by a product that is cutting every corner it can. Anger is justified, because it's anger towards a terrible product being sold to millions. "No one actually completes the national dex," People do, and anyone who wants to is not allowed to catch em' all. Fans of pokemon cannot do what the series tagline says. Whether the majority of people use the same six pokemon is irrelevant, others don't, and the option is taken away from them. "It's just a kids game," Apparently every game reviewing company should just ban reviews on E rated games if these people are correct. Media for a younger audience is still held to the same standard as other media. What makes a game good will still apply regardless of the game's target audience. This is another argument made to ignore what's being said, and it's an argument made by people who don't understand that it works backwards. There are many who simply hate conflict, but big game companies that own long lasting franchises are fully capable of ruining their products.